Officer absolved
of charges in Waikiki
shooting death

City decides against prosecution
based on witnesses' testimony

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By Rod Antone
Star-Bulletin

The Honolulu city prosecutor's office said it will not take any action against the police officer who killed Bernard Crivello last year. While on routine patrol in Waikiki on October 3, an officer shot Crivello in the head during a traffic stop on Tusitala Street.

According to Jim Fulton, spokesman for the prosecuting attorney, the officer was forced to jump away from the Jeep that Crivello was driving after he had approached Crivello on foot and asked him for his driver's license, registration and insurance card. Fulton said the officer "had a second" to get out of the way before Crivello's Jeep struck the officer's Cushman vehicle.

At that point, Fulton said the officer "repeatedly" yelled: "What are you doing? Stop the car! Stop the car!" Fulton said Crivello, 25, did not stop the Jeep and accelerated forward and back, repeatedly striking the officer's Cushman.

Fulton said after Crivello had managed to push the Cushman into the street with the Jeep, the "officer believed the Jeep was coming at him, and he fired a single shot as he jumped out of the path of the Jeep." It was this shot that struck Crivello in the head.

Fulton said the incident was witnessed by 17 people in apartment buildings and three people on the ground. Fulton said while the accounts from people in the buildings were sometimes conflicting, all of the ground witnesses "tended to corroborate the officer's account of events." Fulton said according to witnesses, Crivello appeared to be out of control, and they believed he would have hit children who were playing on the next street had he been allowed to get away.